Equalizer duct system



1957 D. s. SPRINCHORN 2,801,581

7 EQUALIZER DUCT SYSTEM Filed May 6, 1955 2 Shgets-Sheet l 0 Q ,4 FIG. 1. M 3. 7 0 D 1' 33: A?

.. INVENTOR.

0006448 5. SPE/A/C/MEM l5 BY 1957 D. s. SPRINCHORN EQUALIZER nucw SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 6, 1955 FIG. 2.

INVEN TOR. 00064 46' v5: SPE/IVCA/OE/Z .47'7'02/VEY5 United States Patent 2,801,581 EQUALIZER DUCT SYSTEM Douglas S. Sprinchorn, Jamestown, N. Y. Application May 6, 1955, Serial No. 506,412

2 Claims. (Cl. 9833) other enclosure.

The invention has reference to any system in which the movement of air or other gaseous fluids is mechanically effected into a plurality of enclosures and after circulation through said enclosures is returned for recirculation purposes. Thus, the invention may be used in conjunction with fluid treating and circulating apparatuses of various types, such as heating, coolin filtering, humidification control and similar structures,

A structure or unit of the type stated commonly includes means such as a blower for effecting the circulation of air through the system, and further includes a supply duct system common to the several enclosures, such as the rooms of a building, through which the gaseous fluid is to be circulated, and a return duct system which is also common to the several enclosures for returning the circulated fluid to the blower. The supply duct and return duct systems each include a main duct,

and a branch duct extending from the main duct into each enclosure.

In. arrangements of this type, whenever the flow of supply fluidinto a particular enclosure is cut off completely or is reduced, and assuming that the blower is operating at a given, unchanging rate of speed, the amount of gaseous fluid that would have been directed into said enclosure must necessarily flow out of the supply branch ducts of the remaining enclosures, together with the supply fluid that is in any'event provided for said remaining enclosures. As a result, the air or other fluid is caused to flow into the remaining enclosures at an increased velocity, through the supply branch duct outlets, causing a lack of uniformity in the circulation of the fluid through the remaining enclosures.

For example, in a forced air heating system of a building having, for instance, five rooms to be heated, if the supply branch duct outlets into two of the rooms are closed, the heated air will flow at an increased velocity, and in an increased volume, out of the supply branch duct outlets of the three remaining rooms. This may raise the temperature in said remaining rooms to an undesirable extent, and further, discomfort is caused by direction of strong air currents against the occupants of said remaining rooms.

The main object of the present invention is to provide an equalizer duct system which will permit the flow of fluid into one or more enclosures to be cut oil or reduced without affecting the volume and speed of flow of the supply of fluid into the remaining enclosures fed through the same system.

Another object of importance is to provide an equalizer equalizer duct system as to cause the cutting ofi or reduction of the fluid flow into an enclosure to automatically open the equalizer duct associated with said enclosure, to an extent that will cause the amount of fluid prevented from flowing into the enclosure to be diverted or by-passed through the equalizer duct directly to the return duct system. e Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure l is a perspective view diagrammatically illustrating the invention applied to a conventional forced air system of a building, said building being illustrated frag mentarily in dotted lines; Figure 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary top plan view of the damper means incorporated in the invention;

Figure 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Figure 2; and

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

In Figure 1, there is illustrated a fragmentary portion of a building which includes separate enclosures A, B. Designated generally at 10 is an apparatus for circulating a gaseous fluid through the respective enclosures, in the present instance but not necessarily air.

The apparatus 10 includes a casing 11, in which is mounted a blower 12. The casing is divided by a partition 14 into a return or intake air chamber 16 and a supply or outflow air chamber 18. The blower is mounted in the chamber 16, so as to cause air directed into the intake chamber to be forced through blower outlet 19 into the outflow chamber 18. The outflow chamber 18 has a heat exchanger 17 therein.

Opening into the chamber 16 is a main return duct 2%), and opening from the outflow chamber 18 is a main supply duct 22. Communicating with the supply duct 22, and adapted to supply air to the enclosures A, B, are branch supply ducts 24, 26 respectively, having outlet conduits 28, 30 opening into distribution ducts 32, 34 having, at their opposite ends, outlets or registers 36, 36 and 38, 38 respectively.

It will be understood that the air is directed into each of the enclosures A, B, through the associated registers 36, 38 respectively, andv after circulation through said enclosures, passes into the return duct system for recirculation through the apparatus responsive to operation of the blower.

The air passes out of the enclosures A, B through return air registers 40, 40 and 42, 42 respectively, provided upon the ends of return air feeder conduits 44, 46, opening into conduits 48, 50 connected in communication with branch return air conduits or ducts 52, 54 respectively, that are connected in communication at their outlet ends with the main return air duct 20.

The construction which has so far been described is conventional and does not per se constitute part of the present invention.

The invention includes, in combination with the supply and return duct systems described, equalizer ducts 56, 58 associated with the enclosures A, B respectively. In association with each equalizer, duct is a damper assembly, the damper assemblies of the respective ducts being designated generally at 60, 62 and being identical to one another.

As shown in Figure 1, the equalizer duct 56 is connected directly between the branch supply duct 24 and the branch return duct 52, and the equalizer duct 58 is similarly connected directly between the branch supply and return air ducts 26, 54 respectively.

Since the damper assemblies are identical, the description of the assembly 60 will suflice for the assembly 62.

As shown in Figures 2-4, the damper assembly 60 ineludes damper shafts 64, 66 disposed at opposite sides of the outlet of the branch supply duct 24, within the supply conduit 28 and the equalizer duct 56, respectively. At

one end, the shafts project outwardly from their associated ducts, and secured to the projecting ends of the shafts are sprockets 68, 70, about which is trained there is illustrated in the present instance a solenoid 78,

having a core 80 connected to a laterally projecting finger 82 formed upon one of the links of the chain 72. When the solenoid is energized, the core 80 Will be shifted in one direction, to effect joint rotation of the shafts in one direction. When the solenoid is deenergized, the shafts will be rotated conjointly in an opposite direction. Each of the solenoids 78 is energized by manually shifting the adjacent switch 79 to closed position.

The dampers are so arranged, as shown to particular advantage in Figure 4, that one is open when the other is closed. Further, if the damper 74 is opened to a partial extent, the damper 76 will be similarly opened partially.

Considering the operation of the invention, and assuming for example that air is to be fed into both of the enclosures A, B to the maximum extent permissible, the damper 74, and the damper of assembly 62 corresponding to damper 74, will be fully opened as shown in full lines in Figure 4. As a result, the equalizer ducts 56, 58 h 76 to move to its full open position. It will be under stood, in this connection, that the operation of the solenoid, or of any equivalent damper-shifting means, can be controlled by any of several methods well known in the art, either manually or automatically. It is known, for example, to provide a solenoid energized or deenergized responsive to room temperature, or other conditions obtaining within a particular enclosure. portant, for the purposes of the present application, that the dampers be arranged as shown and that they be linked for joint operation with one opening when the other closes, and vice versa.

In any event, with damper 74 closed, the air that would ordinarily flow through the conduit 28 is directed into the equalizer duct 56, and will be bypassed directly to the return duct system for recirculation through the apparatus 10. Since there is diverted through the equalizer duct a quantity of air that ordinarily would have flowed through registers 36 into enclosure A, the volume and rate of air directed through the outlets 38 into enclosure B will be unaffected in any way by the closing of the damper 74.

It will be understood that air or other gaseous fluids supplied to any number of spaces may be controlled in the manner illustrated and described herein.

It i's believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it may be utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily It is mainly imi limited to the specific construction illustrated and described, since such construction is only intended to be illustrative of the principles, it being considered that the invention comprehends any minor change in construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. The combination, with apparatus for circulating a gaseous fluid through a plurality of enclosures, said apparatus including supply and return duct systems each common to the several enclosures, each system including a main duct extending to all the enclosures and a branch duct extending from the main duct and opening upon each enclosure, of an equalizer system for maintaining the volume of the gaseous fluids supplied to each enclosure at a substantially constant value, comprising: an equalizer duct for each enclosure connected directly between the branch supply and return ducts of the associated enclosure, so as to divert from the supply to the return duct system a portion of the supply fluid without circulation thereof through the enclosures; and means for directing into the equalizer duct of a selected enclosure, for flow directly to the return duct system, a quantity of supply fluid' conjointly with preventing said quantity from flowing into said selected enclosure, including a pair of dampers, one in each branch supply duct and the other in the equalizer duct connected with said branch supply duct, a solenoid stationarily mounted upon one of the damper provided ducts and including a core, means connecting said solenoid cores for movement in opposite directions responsive to energization and de-energization respectively of the solenoid, and means in each enclosure .for energizing the respective solenoids.

2. The combination, with apparatus for circulating a gasous fluid through a plurality of enclosures, said apparatus including supply and return duct systems each common to the several enclosures, each system including a main duct extending to all the enclosures and a branch duct extending from the main duct and opening upon each enclosure, of an equalizer system for maintaining the volume of the gaseous fluids supplied to each enclosure at a substantially constant value, comprising: an equalizer duct for each enclosure connected directly between the branch supply and return ducts of the associated enclosure, so as to divert from the supply to the return duct system a portion of the supply fluid without circulation thereof through the enclosures; and means for directing into the equalizer duct of a selected enclosure, for flow directly to the return duct system, a quantity of supply fluid conjointly with preventing said quantity from flowing into said selected enclosure, including a pair of dampers, one in each branch supply duct and the other in the equalizer duct connected with said branch supply duct, shafts journaled in said connected branch supply and equalizer ducts, the dampers being secured to-the shafts for rotation therewith and lying in perpendicularly related planes, sprockets secured to the respective shafts for rotation therewith, a chain trained about the sprockets, a solenoid stationarily mounted upon one of the damperprovided ducts and including a core connected to the chain for shifting the same in opposite directions responsive to energization and de-energization, respectively, of the solenoid, and means in each enclosure for energizing the respective solenoids.

References Cited in the .file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

